1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to targeted advertisement selection. More specifically, one embodiment of the invention relates to an apparatus and method for selecting targeted advertisements from a digital stream based upon user preferences.
2. General Background
Television is used to deliver content, such as entertainment and educational programs to viewers. Service providers, such as television stations and networks, broadcast entertainment and information programming via a communications medium, such as a television network or cable system, from the head-end of a communications system to a client or user at the receiving end of the system. Traditionally, a large source of revenue for service providers has been from paid advertisements.
The growth of digital television transmitted over satellite, cable, as well as terrestrial networks has increased the amount of different channels available for viewing by users and has driven advertisers to “better target” users by local personalized advertisements, which may generate better leads for future sales. Further, the advent of Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) and Video On Demand (VOD) is a threat to advertisers because it creates ad-skippers. As viewers start evading advertisements, ad agencies must compete on innovative ways to ensure their advertisements are viewed.
There is therefore a need to re-work TV advertising to create innovative techniques that can exploit advertisement opportunities.
Personalization in television advertising has been identified by advertisers as a technique that may be useful in targeting advertising to individual users by focusing on users' likes and dislikes.
Unfortunately, conventional digital video content, such as MPEG video, takes the form of a single program, movie, or other content without the opportunity for a service provider or a user to modify the viewing experience by selecting alternative content, such as, targeted advertisements. Various mechanisms have been proposed for providing interactive or personalized content, but typically such proposals have been expensive to implement, take up large amounts of bandwidth, and may require expensive specialized equipment.